In my latest Christmas story, Too Old for Christmas set
in 1854 Columbia,
California, between getting off work early due to heavy rain
and his visit to the dentist, Doc Massey, my hero Sean Flood makes a stop at
the Columbia Mercantile. While he is there looking and feeling far from his
best, Sean first speaks to the widow Ona McNair.
Columbia was first known as "Hildreath's Diggings" after Dr.
Thaddeus Hildreath and a few other prospectors are given credit for discovering
the gold site on March 28, 1850. Hildreath and his friends came across a gulch
that yielded them $4,680 in gold during the next two days. When word spread
about the find, the population went from nothing to 5,000 during the next month
resulting in a frenzy of construction as hundreds of frame buildings were
erected. AS happened on a regular basis in the towns of the era in gold
country, almost all of then were destroyed by the great fire of 1854.
The building that most people now refer to as the Columbia Mercantile is also known as the Magendie/Brunet Building. In 1852
V.E. Magendie bought a wooden structure on this lot from Alexis Maitre in what
was then known as the French quarter due to the number of natives of France who
had started businesses.
This
building along with a large portion of Columbia except for a few brick buildings
was burned to the ground in 1854. Magendie first rebuilt his store of wood before
he replaced the structure with a more durable brick building in 1855. Based on
that timeline of actual events, at the time Too Old for Christmas
begins in November of 1854, Sean would have entered a wood structure when he
visited the mercantile. Since that year Sean augmented his freight hauling jobs
with construction jobs as part of the effort to rebuild the city of Columbia,
it is possible he may have helped construct the wooden building where he later
shopped.
Fortunately
for Mr. Magendie and the rest of Colombia’s businessmen, cement for the concrete
mortar was mined locally. The brick was made not far away in Shaw’s Flat.
Along
with the brick buildings which proved to be more fire-resistant (not
In
1856 V.E. Magendie sold the building to J.B. Magendie. The 1857 fire partially
destroyed the building. Magendie sold to Pedro Beronio and Pierre Bocquerraz in
1861. Beronio and Bocquerraz sold groceries and alchoholic beverages. In 1868
L. Brunet owned the building and C. Smith ran a clothing and grocery store in
it. Brunet owned the building for many years.
Today
the structure still stands as an example of the 1855 buildings constructed in
this gold mining community.
For the full timeline and some great pictures of the Columbia Mercantile through time click HERE to access the Columbia Gazette page.
The
following is the book description for Too Old for Christmas scheduled to
be published in early November, 2015:
Irishman Sean Flood survived the potato
famine, crossing the Atlantic, the Mexican-American War, and wandering the Western
wilderness with his mules and freight wagon. But, due to poor diet and
deprivation, his teeth did not fare well. It’s November of 1854 in Columbia,
California, Queen of the Southern Mines, a city Sean is helping to rebuild
after the disastrous fire the previous summer. Intense stabbing tooth pain
drives him to see Doc Massey, the local dentist. He first stops by the
mercantile to pick up a bottle of whiskey—for medicinal purposes—and food
he’ll be able to eat when it’s all over. If only the beautiful but aggravating
woman ahead of him who keeps her face half hidden and insists she won’t accept
charity would finish up with her purchase so he can get his supplies, his tooth
pulled and return home to his mules and half-built cabin….
That night, Sean meets the woman’s two
sons, Jesse and Benjy McNair, and learns her secret. He decides with only three
teeth left in his head, he needs widow Ona McNair’s charity—and he’s willing to
pay for it. Sean won’t accept nine year-old Jesse’s declaration his family’s
poverty means the boy is too old for Christmas that year. Sean is a full-grown
man and he’s not too old for Christmas. He not only plans to come bearing gifts
to Christmas Eve dinner with the McNairs, but he knows exactly what gift he
wants for himself. *Sweet Romance
Zina Abbott is the pen name used by Robyn
Echols for her historical novels. Her novel, Family Secrets, was
published by Fire Star Press in October 2014 and her novelette, A
Christmas Promise, was published by Prairie Rose Publications in
November 2014. The first two novellas in the Eastern Sierra Brides 1884
series, Big Meadows Valentine and A Resurrected Heart, are now available.
Zina Abbott Author Links:
